Effects of Order Management on Siebel Pricer

This section describes changes to Siebel Pricer functionality when used with a Multiple Price Type (MPT) license. MPT is included with CME applications.

The MPT license allows you to create simple products that have one of three price types. Using the subviews of the Customizable Products view tab, you can also create customizable products with components and assign a price type to each component and to the product root. Price Type is a required field when you define a product in Product Administration > Products. The three price types are:

One-Time. This price is charged only once. For example, you assign this price type to a piece of equipment that the customer can purchase.

Recurring. This price is charged on a recurring basis. For example, you assign this price type to a service to which the customer subscribes.

Usage. This price is charged based on customer consumption. For example, you assign this price type to an electric service that is billed by kilowatt hour of usage. The Usage price type is provided for information only and is not used in any price calculations.

The MPT license turns off price roll up in Siebel Pricer. For customizable products, this prevents Pricer from totaling the prices of components to arrive at a total price for the customizable product root. It also prevents Siebel Pricer from totaling line items to arrive at a total price for a quote or order.

Instead, Siebel Pricer forwards the price of each item (after price adjustments) to Order Management. Order Management then splits the items into two groups:

Non-Recurring Charge (NRC). Items with a price type of One-Time are assigned to this group. Taxes and shipping charges are computed on NRC totals only.

Monthly Recurring Charge (MRC). Items with a price type of Recurring and the Per Month unit of measure are assigned to this group.

Order Management then totals the two groups and provides separate NRC and MRC subtotals for each customizable product. It also provides an NRC and MRC total for the whole quote or order.

For the Recurring price type, pre-configured subtotals and totals are provided only for the Per Month unit of measure.

Price List Used

The price list used by a quote associated with a new, modify, or disconnect workflow is taken from one of three sources, which are below listed in order of precedence:

The price list entered by the user when the quote is created

The price list already associated with an active quote

The price list associated with the account

Action Codes in Quotes and Orders

When the user modifies an asset, the line items in the resulting quote and order include action codes, which show how the item was changed. Action codes affect price totals as follows:

Add. The item was added during the configuration session. Items with this action code are included in NRC or MRC subtotals and totals.

-- (Dash). A dash means the item was not changed during the configuration session. Items with this action code are not included in NRC or MRC subtotals and totals.

Delete. The item was removed during the configuration session. Items with this action code are not included in NRC or MRC subtotals and totals.

Update. An attribute value for the item was changed during the configuration session. Items with this action code are included in NRC and MRC subtotals and totals.

The Update action code is also assigned if one of these fields in Quotes > Line Items or Orders > Line Items is changed: Product ID, Agreement ID, Billing Account ID, Service Account ID, Usage Asset ID, Service ID, Net Price, Discount Percent, or Discount Amount.

If you require that subtotals in quotes and orders handle action codes differently, you can create a business service method with the logic you need. For example, if you want items that are not changed in the configuration session (those with the dash action code) to be included in the NRC or MRC subtotals, or if you want items with the Update action code to be excluded from those totals, instead of included, you can create a business service to make the necessary change.

Component-Based Pricing Adjustments

Siebel Pricer makes component-based pricing adjustments as defined in the Pricing Designer, but it does not add these adjustments to the list price of the customizable product. Instead, Siebel Pricer forwards the adjusted price of each component to Order Management. It also forwards the list price of the customizable product. These will be rolled up separately based on price types.

For example, you define component-based pricing for a customizable product in which the list price is zero and the total price is the sum of the adjusted component prices by price type. The Quotes and Orders screens will display a price of zero for the customizable product root and will display the adjusted price for each of the components. Order Management will sum the adjusted prices of the components by price type and display the NRC and MRC subtotals for the customizable product.

Alternately, you enter a list price for a customizable product, and you give non-default components delta prices from their associated default item. For example, a non-default monitor is given a price of +$50, the difference in price from the default monitor. If the user picks a non-default item, the delta price is applied to the list price of the customizable product. The Quotes and Orders screens will display the list price for the customizable product root and will display the delta price, if any, for each item. Order Management will sum the list price and any price adjustments for non-default components by price type, and it will display the NRC and MRC subtotals for the customizable product.

Attribute-Based Pricing Adjustments

Attribute-based pricing adjustments defined on components of a customizable product work primarily as described in Pricing Administration Guide, with one main difference.

In Order Management with Multiple Price Types, each product, whether root or component, is treated independently. Attribute pricing adjustments are always made on each product item, and never on the whole customizable product. This means that the list price of the customizable product root is adjusted individually, and the list prices of components of that customizable product are adjusted individually, based on attribute pricing adjustments for the root and for each component. This allows the adjusted prices to be rolled up by price type—one-time, recurring, and usage-based.

For example, if you have a wireless plan set up as a customizable product, including the monthly wireless plan, caller ID, call waiting, a mobile phone, and an activation fee, you can apply attribute-based pricing adjustments any individual component of that plan. If you want to give a customer a 10% discount on the price of each item in the product, you will need to apply that discount to each line item.

This differs from how attribute-based pricing works without the Multiple Price Type license. Without MPT, you can set up adjustments so that selection of an attribute at the root level causes an adjustment to be made to the price of the whole product. Without MPT, prices for each line item roll up into the total for the customizable product, so the discount can be applied to the total rather than to each line item.

Pricing Models and Pricing Factors

Single, Bundle, Matrix and Script pricing factors act on each individual product or component's list price to come up with the net price. The parent root of a customizable product is treated like a component with no rollup. MPT will rollup the prices separately into MRC and NRC subtotals and totals.

Aggregate pricing factors are not supported with MPT, because they depend on Siebel Pricer computing totals for the whole quote.

Tier Pricing

In the CME industries, many products and services are priced based on tier rates. Examples include rate tables, rate based billing systems, and extended price rates used in the Energy industry. With MPT, this feature is limited to the price comparison functionality.

Other Changes to Siebel Pricer for Industry Applications

In the Siebel Industry Applications version of Siebel Pricer, the following new views have been added to Pricing Administration:

Quote Pricing Model Validation > Test Quotes Line Items > Totals

Order Pricing Model Validation > Test Orders Line Items > Totals

New fields have been added to the following views in Pricing Administration. In the case of the Test Quotes Line Items tab (applet), a new applet replaces the existing applet of the same name.

Costing > Cost List Line Items

Rate List > Rate List Line Items

Quote Pricing Model Validation > Quotes

Quote Pricing Model Validation > Test Quotes Line Items

Order Pricing Model Validation > Sales Orders

Order Pricing Model Validation > Test Orders Line Items

Recommended Practices

This section describes recommended practices for using Siebel Pricer with Siebel Industry Applications, which are intended to minimize order problems. Unless noted, these recommendations apply to installations with or without MPT.

Pricing display when modifying a customer asset. During a configuration session when modifying a customer asset, the prices displayed in the configuration selection pages will not take into account action codes, since there is no checking of action codes in configuration rules. MRC and NRC totals are computed as if in Add action state. This is different from quotes and orders price computation which is based on action codes. At the end of the configuration session, pricing is updated using the price list associated with the account and is displayed in the quote. Prices are updated for items that have an action code of Add or Update. Prices are not updated for items with an action code of Delete or "-" (dash).

Manual price adjustments in quotes. After entering a manual price adjustment to a line item in a quote, click Reprice. This forces Siebel Pricer to update quote subtotals and totals. If you manually adjust the price of a line item and want to retain the adjustment during a configuration session, click the Keep Discount check box in Line Item Detail.